In a bid to meet the demands of their customers and reduce the stress of having to travel the Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA), Lagos and the Nnamdi Azikwe International Airport, Abuja, particularly from the Southeast and the South-South regions to board flights, the management of Turkish Airlines has concluded plans to commence flight operations from the Omagwa International Airport, Port Harcourt, Rivers State to Istanbul, Turkey beginning from June this year.

Speaking at a press briefing in Lagos, the management said the Airlines would shuttle its flight four times a week between Port Harcourt and Istanbul.

The General Manager, Turkish Airlines Lagos, Mr. Yunus Ozbek and the Abuja GM, Mehmet Asik, revealed that as a way of expansion, the ideology is to connect Port Harcourt to the rest of the world.

Ozbek said, “Being selected as one of the best travel airlines, Turkish airlines is looking to be a major player in the Nigerian aviation industry, as the country is one of the airline’s foremost destination.”

“There is a special discount provision for students’ passengers in Port Harcourt. Business is not our number one priority; we try to support our customers with their traveling demands. So the student fare enables us to support education. Our services are not only for individuals but also corporate clients like ministries, embassies, companies, institutions, NGOs and others,” he added.

According Mehmet, there is free Istanbul tour for transit passengers while they wait for a connecting flight. He said, “Customers are taken to tour the city on sight seeing, visit to the museum and taken back to the airport for the next flight.

Also, we offer economy class customers who are stopping over a one-night in a five-star hotel, while the business class gets two-night in a five-star hotel for free.”

“We ensure the best travel experience for our passengers. We have 350 movies, free on board Wi-Fi and flying chefs who prepares passengers’ meal on-board. This is why we are rated the travel catering in the world. We are a reflection of the home culture where everything is expected to be in place. Also, we have the corporate club, which offers benefits such as discount, incentives and excess baggage.

We also have the ‘Miles and Smiles’ where we reward frequent flyers and loyal customers,” he added.

Mehmet, however, noted that in line with the airline’s global expansion plans; the airline is working to increase the number of aircraft from 336 to 500 in the next four-year.

“The airline airlifted over 75.2 million passengers from approximately 307 destinations in 2018 and Nigeria is the biggest economy in Africa as its people travels a lot. Lagos and Abuja are one of our biggest destinations in Africa irrespective the competition on both routes,” he stated.